Bloody Escape
by Merisca
Summary: People are dying, disappearing. The vampires have a bet. A bloody bet on who can take little Carrie away from her parents. A new vamp named Jeremy is in town and Shane suspects he is the key to solve the new mysteries in his otherwise peaceful little town.
1. Chapter 1

**Link to book 16 – Lurking shadows: s/9896910/1/Lurking-Shadows**

Bloody Escape – Book 17

Morganville, what a wonderful place! A city where the citizens will never go outside after the sun has set and there's hardly ever committed crimes. To top it all, it never rains and no matter what season the sun will keep on shining and providing everyone with healthy warmth and light. Beautiful houses are priding each and every street. The Founder has made sure no one will ever ruin them. Also, the Founder of this incredible city makes sure that things are going well and she controls everything – of course in a good way that keeps everyone safe. Doesn't Morganville just sound perfect? I bet that you would never want to leave.

Finally, after two long days at the hospital they were getting home. They were going home with a tiny little baby in their arms and bigger smiles than ever.

Claire placed a hand on Shane's thigh as he parked the car outside the Glass House and gave him a bright smile. He returned her smile and bent over to kiss her forehead.

'Come on let's get inside. I'll take Carrie and you'll go in the front and open the door?' Shane took her hand up to his lips and kissed it. It was awfully dark outside and none of the streetlights worked anymore. She swallowed and nodded. They both knew the routine, but it had changed ever so slightly now that they had a baby basket to get inside as well.

'Okay. Be careful and quiet,' Claire warned and took the keys he handed her. Of course, he nodded and jumped out of the car. Quickly she did the same and sprinted up to the door, unlocked it and turned to see Shane hurrying after. Everything seemed legit until Carrie let out a full-blown cry, which took Shane by surprise and made him freeze for a second. A second was all it took for something to push him out of the light that came from the Glass House. The baby basket fell gently to the ground with its pink bow falling off. Shane was pinned down just where the light didn't reach and Carrie had stopped crying. Claire snapped out of the trance and felt up her pants where she usually had some kind of weapon – but not today.

'We're under Amelie's protection!' she yelled into the dark. The vampire that had Shane made sure he wouldn't make any sound. And there weren't just one. Out of the shadows came a tall, dark skinned vampire. She had never seen a dark skinned vamp, just about every other race including Greeks, Asians, Americans and even a few of them that looked like Scandinavians.

'Take one step closer and I believe your little baby here will be punished. She looks new. Congratulations, is it a girl?' He smiled. In her side view, she saw Shane fighting for his life trying to keep the hungry vamp from nibbling his throat.

'Who are you?' With only one eye scan she could tell he came from the filthy street, the place where all the less succeeded vamps were living. She barely remembered the first time Shane had taken her to the drive-in movie theatre for the first time. The fastest way there would be through the Vamp Ghetto.

'Aren't I rude? I'm Jeremy. You must be Claire?' He lifted the baby basket up to his nasty face and sniffed inside. 'Mm, infants. They smell really good the first weeks, don't you think?'

'I don't know. You kind of took her away from me before I got to smell her,' she replied with a voice ten times steadier than she felt.

'Claudette, lâcher prise maintenant!' Jeremy said in perfect French. The vampire, who Claire really thought had been a man, let go of Shane.

'Mais, Monsieur Jeremy, je suis avide!' Claudette protested and looked at her master. Shane quickly got up at his feet again, capturing the baby basket with his eyes. The woman vamp pushed him down again just for the hell of it and laughed. 'Tu ne comprends pas la vie, mon petit garçon.'

'Claudette! I'm sorry for my companion's behavior. She doesn't really know the native language of America yet,' Jeremy said softly and put the baby basket down. Claire let out a sigh in relief, but it stopped when he picked Carrie up from it. His fangs were down. No. Not Carrie. Shane must've seen it as well and he fought twice as hard to get up and loose from Claudette's grip. 'I haven't had a baby's blood since the Revolution. It's a real… Treat,' he continued, emphasizing the word treat. Claire felt sick to her stomach and felt like she would puke any moment. Just as he was going to take a snack, Claudette mumbled something and Jeremy put Carrie down.

'We'll be back and believe me, this little girl won't be here for long.' And with that, they were gone. A police car stopped in the driveway and three men came out. Or two men and a woman, whose name was Hannah. Claire ran to the little baby basket and so did Shane.

'She's okay, she's okay,' she cried and scooped her daughter up. Shane's arms went around her. Pain engulfed her heart and she's never felt more like a traitor. Carrie was alive, but it was only because someone had called the cops. Without them, her precious little baby girl would have been drained right now. Truth had been told; Claire and Shane couldn't protect her from anything every second of her life. They had failed already the first day. It hurt so badly it couldn't be described by using words.

'We need to get inside. Come on,' Shane's voice was shaky. He bent down and picked up the basket and they headed in together. Michael and Eve came rushing down the stairs immediately.

'Why didn't you do anything?' Claire screamed and handed Carrie to a confused Shane. She walked up to them with long, angry steps and pushed Michael as hard as she could in the chest. Of course he didn't move an inch, but he looked genuinely hurt. 'She could have died! Shane could have died, and you knew but you didn't do anything!' she cried in frustration and kept on hitting Michael who probably barely could feel it.

'Claire, we called the cops-'

'Nothing more? Did you just expect that they would come fast enough?' Claire interrupted him.

'They were pointing crossbows at them the whole time. I saw them,' Shane said and placed baby Carrie in her crib by the couch. Then he came towards her and pulled her slowly away from Michael.

'Are you okay?' she took a pirouette to get out of Shane's strong grip. He was beaten. Not much, but a scratch marks prided the left side of his face. Claudette obviously had sharp nails, which Claire would write down in her vamp journal.

'Yeah, I'm fine. The French girl just ruined my pretty face.' His sarcasm was still going strong.

'Guys, could you all shut up for just a few minutes?' Hannah said impatiently, tapping her foot. Everyone shut their mouths and turned to look at the officer. 'Thank you. Shane, tell me what happened.'

Claire was rather shocked that Hannah asked Shane. The police, and everyone else, always asked her. She snuggled closer to Shane, ignoring his smell, which was a terrible mixture of sweat and cologne.

'Ugh, I just got out of the car with Carrie's basket while Claire opened the door. Carrie started crying and a French girl vamp swept me off my feet and wanted to dance. Then some random black man came and started sniffing my baby. Said his name was Jeremy.'

'Claire, something to add?' Hannah asked.

'The woman who took Shane was called Claudette. I think they where from the vampire ghetto,' she shrugged and snuck a look at Shane's stone face. 'They said they would come back for Carrie.'

'We'll have police around, guarding your house all night. I'll send reports to Amelie, because I don't think I've ever heard about these two vamps before,' Hannah made one of her colleagues scribble something down. 'And one more thing, Shane and Claire.'

'What?' They both replied a little worried.

'Congratulations,' she smiled and nodded at Carrie's crib. 'She's lucky to have you two as parents.'

Then they left.

Silence filled the Glass House as Shane guided his wife to the couch and tucked her into a blanket. 'We'll stay down with her tonight, okay?' he whispered and kissed her forehead.

'Okay. Michael, I'm sorry for hitting you.'

'I'm fine. It's been a rough day for ya', you know, giving birth and stuff,' he smiled and crouched down next to her and Shane. Eve joined them too.

'How is Ethan, by the way?' Ethan was Eve and Michael's son. He was only a month older than little Carrie.

'He's great,' Eve smiled and stretched out her legs. She hadn't changed out her big clunky boots even though she was a mum.

'I just don't get why people ask that! Babies don't do anything but crying, eating and pooping. It's not like they smile, laugh or show any signs of expressing emotions!' Michael sighed frustrated. He had been like that since the very first day after Ethan was born. He, somehow, had guessed that the baby would come out with as a five year old kid and was really disappointed when he got to know that the baby would only be crying and pooping. Not even a single coo would come out of the small baby mouth in months.

'Michael! He is adorable, stop being such an ass,' Eve kicked her husband, clearly annoyed by his complaints. Claire laughed a little at them and Shane rubbed her shoulder whilst smiling.

'Can you two idiots find another battlefield? I've heard there are weapons in Eve's underwear drawer,' Shane suggested. Both Eve and Claire flinched.

'What the fuck did you do searching through my underwear you fucking perverted creep?' Eve drilled her eyes into Shane.

'Yeah, I would like to know that too, Collins boy,' Claire raised her eyebrows at her husband.

'Searching for weapons?' He suggested.

'If I ever catch you going through my wife's underwear again-' Michael started half serious and half playful. Things seemed nearly normal. Michael hadn't spoken to Shane nicely since the incident with Eve. When Claire turned her attention to Shane, she saw how his eyes were shining with hope.

'Nah, bro. I'm sneaky. If I decide to do the same thing again you won't ever know,' he winked. Then when his attention got back to Claire the glow in his eyes died and he looked down. 'Sorry. I love you.'

'Idiot.'

'Do you think he meant what he said about coming back for her?' Claire asked quietly and made room for Shane on the couch. Eve and Michael had gone to bed so they were all alone in the dark living room with two candles as the only lights.

'Yeah, I have no idea. I just know that we won't be taking any risks,' he said thoughtfully and climbed up next to, but more underneath, her. Their couch was small, but with extreme closeness, it could fit two people.

'I'm scared and I know I could never go through with it, but it tempts to give her away to a nice family at the other side of the globe - just to get her as far away as possible from this hellhole,' she sighed and kissed his shoulder softly. At first he didn't answer, and it didn't seem like he was going to say anything either. Not before she felt something wet run down her cheek and it wasn't a tear of hers. 'Hey, don't cry. We're not going to do it, honey...'

'Yeah, we're way too selfish for that kind of action,' he wiped his tears, clearly frustrated. 'I just thought I could protect her, you know? I promised her. I promised her a few hours ago when she first opened her eyes that I wouldn't let anyone hurt her. I didn't even keep my vow for a day!'

'We'll protect her together. She's just as much my responsibility as yours-'

'You keep on saying stuff like that, but it's bullshit. I'm the man and I'm supposed to be the protector! Sure, you'll probably smack me for saying it, but that's just how I see it. Also, I promised myself I would never let anything happen to Lyss either, but heck of a lot good it did,' he groaned and leant back to stare at the ceiling. Claire felt a lump in her throat as she closed the distance between them on the coach by sitting up and kissing his cheek. Poor Shane. She wished that she could take his constant guilt feeling away and let him even if only for a minute relax.

'You did everything you could for Alyssa. I didn't know you back then, but I know you did. Carrie will be fine with us, I just know it.'

'I'm just freaking tired of loosing people,' his jaw was clenched but he softened all up when he looked at his daughter. 'And I love her. I honestly wouldn't be able to cope if I let something happen to her.'

'I feel the same way. Are you open for suggestions to keep her alive?' Her small hand reached for his.

'Anything.'

'We could ask Amelie to provide us all with protection and not just me,' she said and held her breath.

'Well, literally anything but THAT,' he hissed. 'What has she started with? Family packages?'

'Be quiet! And you said you would do anything, so I just assumed you meant it,' she sighed and moved a few inches away from him.

'You know how I feel about vampires! And I'm not getting her under any life-binding protection crap until she's 1, 'cause if she's anything like me, she would get the offer, rip the contract and live free and like a normal person,' he whispered harshly. Claire suddenly felt hot boiled anger inside herself.

'So you're saying I'm just a trapped inhumane person with no will of my own? Because I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't gone under Amelie's protection, you would have been dead years ago.'

'Yes and yes!' he yelled and stood up. A few seconds later he was gone. He'd probably gone to his own room. Just as Claire heard him close his door, Carrie started whimpering, which led to a full-blown cry. She scooped her gently up and sat back down.

'Sh, sweetie. Your dad is just being an ass-' Claire cut herself off immediately and decided never to swear in front of here daughter again. 'First night in your new home, welcome to life,' she sighed and leant back with her crying baby in her arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**I dedicate this chapter to Clairebear97 and aBalletbun. Thanks for your two wonderful reviews! xo**

**2**

'Claire, wake up,' Shane whispered and placed a hand on her boob. She opened her eyes and slapped it away quickly. Memories from the fight last night came back to her mind, but she didn't feel angry about it anymore. Then she realized that Shane only had been fixing her bra and shirt and that she had fallen asleep whilst feeding Carrie.

'Michael felt too uncomfortable about your nudity to come downstairs, so he woke me.'

'Oh...' She felt her cheeks burn. 'Did he see much?'

'Like nipple? God, I hope not. I wouldn't exactly appreciate someone else looking at my girl's boobs. They're all mine. And yours of course. Plus I now have to share with Carrie! Dammit.' How had she even fallen in love with this guy?

'My neck and back is stiff and I will hate you until you give me a massage.' Even though she wasn't angry, she still could get the most out of the situation. You know, milk it for all it's worth and a little bit more. Shane didn't have to know she wasn't pissed off.

'It's freaking 5:30, Claire,' he complained.

'I gave birth yesterday so your argument is invalid. Massage now,' she left no room for arguments and handed him Carrie. 'Put her in her crib and sit down.'

'But I want to go back to sleep...'

'You walked out on both Carrie and me last night just because of a stupid little tantrum. I don't care if you're tired!'

'Yeah about that-' He hesitated as he saw her raising an eyebrow. It looked like he had a whole speech of arguments ready, but settled for six simple words. 'I love you, and I'm sorry.'

'Great, now massage me.'

'God, I'm so whipped,' he mumbled and started massaging her shoulders. Claire smiled to herself and watched Michael coming downstairs.

'Morning,' he greeted and disappeared into the kitchen. He looked so embarrassed it made her giggle. It was the whole setting: How his head was down and his almost vampire quick escape from the room. Shane kept on massaging her whilst sighing and groaning every few minutes.

'Shane, can we make a deal?' she asked and let her head fall back on his shoulder.

'What do you want from me?'

'A promise,' she sighed and looked up at him.

'What do you want me to promise you?' he cupped her face gently and focused at her lips with eyes filled with darkness, lust and love. Sometimes he just made her faint inside and forget whatever she was going to say. He just had that effect on her.

'I want you to promise you won't back out on us,' she said and dodged his lips that were moving closer to hers. When she looked back at him, he was all confused and hurt.

'Seriously? Do you think I would pack my shit and run away, like ever? Claire, that's low. That's so low it hurts,' he said frustrated.

'No, honey, I trust you- it's just... Last night, even when you knew a vampire could easily get inside our house and take our daughter, you just ran upstairs. We need to be able to have a grown up discussion without you channeling your inner five year old,' she hissed and took a deep breath. A glance down at his hand made it clear to her that she was free to hold it if she wanted to. 'We have to make this work. Things just got serious, Shane. We have a marriage and a daughter and decisions have to be made before it's too late.'

'I started this, I committed and I knocked you up. I would never leave you or Carrie,' he said.

'Good. Now you can kiss me.'

'But I don't want to kiss you!' He complained and turned his cheek to her.

'Yes, you do,' she smiled and pecked his lips. He responded right away. 'And I saw this Founder house for sale…'


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Claire

Their economics weren't at top at the moment since they'd just bought a house and all the stuff Carrie needed. Still, Claire really wanted to buy creams that could remove stretch marks, or at least fade them a little bit. Shane had probably seen them and most likely hated them. It just had to be a huge turn off.

In bed she'd started undressing after the light was turned off and being in only underwear, or naked, had become embarrassing. At daytime, it was no problem and she barely gave it a thought, but when the night came she felt sick and dreadful. Shane was still handsy, but not nearly as much as before. It could of course come from his lack of sleep, but… She just couldn't believe that. And it was way more logical that he didn't find her sexy or pretty anymore.

The price tag on the cream a young pharmacy technician had showed her was higher than a skyscraper. At least for the moment. The 'before and after' pictures on the back of the box looked so real and incredible. So tempting, but also so-not-happening. She sighed and placed the box with the cream tube back in the shelf. Well, that sucked badly.

Shane came up behind her with the shopping cart. Carrie was sleeping in the baby chair that was connected to it. 'So, what's the lady lookin' at?' he grinned and kissed her cheek.

'Nothing,' she lied and put on a half fake smile and closed the distance between them completely by hugging him. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly until she pulled back.

'Do we have everything on the shopping list?' she asked and took the list out of Shane's hand.

'Shit. I forgot the diapers,' Shane said and took off.

Claire shot the cream a last look, and then the price tag whilst making a mental note to save money for it.

When Shane came back with the diapers and a bag of Lays chips, they went off to the cashier to pay. There was barely any line at all, just two people buying smoke and some beer.

Whilst Shane was paying for the food and diapers, Claire noticed two vamps standing in the dark corner of the shop looking at Carrie. One was a red haired, slim and tall woman. The other was a thin man. It was Jeremy. Shane was about twice his size, but Jeremy had to be ten times as strong anyway. She elbowed Shane carefully and he turned to look at her.

'Hm?'

'Watch Carrie while I put the groceries in bags. There are some vamps in the corner,' she mumbled casually. The vampires could probably hear her, even though she was speaking quietly. Shane shot a quick look at them and nodded to Claire. 'Do it fast, we need to get out of here,' he whispered fiercely into her ear.

She packed all the groceries into the plastic bags quickly. The process took her under two minutes. Shane handed her Carrie and picked up the bags. Just when they were about to open the door and leave, the vamps jumped in front of them in a flash.

'Leaving already?' the red haired vamp hissed. Was it Claudette? No, it couldn't be… Only a few days ago she hadn't known any English words. All Claire had managed to make out in the twilight that night was the red hair.

'Back off. We're under Amelie's protection,' Shane said. Claire noticed how his muscles were tensed up and ready to fight. She turned to see if the cashier or someone else was there, but no one was close. The cashier had turned her back to everything and walked off to check on something, and there were rarely any customers at the store.

'Yes, yes, one of you are. But we don't want her,' Jeremy said with a spooky voice that left echoes in the air – even though there was no reason there should be an echo. Creepy.

'Leave us alone,' Claire said bravely and held Carrie closer to her chest.

'Oh, little one is ordering us around? I do not appreciate such behaviour. I will let it pass on one condition. Let's make the deal, shall we?' Jeremy said and gestured for the redhead to circled around them. Claire felt like an antelope getting hunted by tigers in the savannah. An easy target, since there was no way she could outrun them. Especially not since Carrie was nestled in her arms, still sleeping.

'We're not making any deal. Now get out of our way!' Shane sounded pissed off and dangerous.

'We want the baby,' the redhead ignored Shane and tried snapping Carrie out of Claire's arms. Shane let go of the shopping bags and searched his pockets for a stake he didn't have. She knew she had one stuffed in her purse. _One_. That meant that even if they managed to stake one of them, the other would kill them. Shane slipped his hand down in her purse and searched for something to use. He got hold of the stake.

'Stealing from the young lady? What a shame,' Jeremy moved closer to Shane. Claire felt scared. The vamps could grab Carrie or/and kill Shane any second.

Just when Claire thought the situation couldn't get worse, Carrie yawned and woke up. When she saw the vamps, she started whimpering. _No, no, no_.

The red head stepped quickly forward and snapped the baby out of Claire's arms and Jeremy lifted Shane up in the air. Shane looked at her with scared eyes. Carrie was crying. _What do I do_?

'Please don't! What do you want?' Claire cried as Shane made a choking sound. The vampire that held Shane slammed him down. Shane's head hit the floor and made a sickening banging sound. Adrenaline was rushing in her body, making her shake all over.

'The girl,' the vamps said at the same time.

'Why?' Claire asked with a shaking voice. She knew she shouldn't be afraid. The vampires could smell fear, feel it.

'None of your business,' the red haired said and showed off her fangs.

Claire placed her hand in her pockets searching for her cell phone. When she got hold of it, she pressed a button. She couldn't talk to the one picking up, but someone she had on speed dial would understand she was in trouble. Problem was the person probably didn't know where she was. Eve was the only one who knew, because she had texted her before leaving for the grocery store. God, she hoped either Michael or Eve picked up.

Amelie could help. Maybe. Claire looked down at her gold bracelet. 'It is my business. You're holding my daughter there,' she said and looked up to face the vamps. They stood there together staring at her.

'We should just tell her. Then we can kill her and go claim our prize,' something scary went over Jeremy's eyes. Claire felt the hair on her arms rise. Something was wrong. A different wrong than usual. This felt sick and twisted.

'Sounds like fun. I will enjoy seeing her face when she gets to know,' the lady smiled and held out her hand in a diva-motion to stare at her nails. In her other arm, Carrie was lying. She didn't cry anymore, but Claire could see she was close.

'Vampires are having bets on who can take your precious little Carrie and kill her first and then survive for a week afterwards,' the man smiled with fangs. Claire hitched a breath. Shane was down for the moment so it was only she against two vampires.

'Please don't do this,' she said and stared at them. 'You'll regret it. Trust my word.'

'What? I can't see anyone her to witness us killing anyone. Then I mean not someone that will live through the day,' Jeremy said and placed Carrie on the floor.

'If you kill me, you mess with the Founder, Myrnin and all the other people and vampires on my side,' Claire warned. 'And there are many. Way too many for you two to handle.'

'The girl has a point,' the redhead said hesitantly. Claire felt a small relief-like feeling. 'We won't live through the week if we do something to any of these three humans.' Jeremy hissed something in a language Claire didn't know. It sounded Russian, but not exactly. The man replied something, sounding scared, and they took off.

Claire ran to pick up Carrie from the floor and then to Shane. His pulse was beating normally and there were no fang marks. He had just fainted by getting thrown so hard at the floor. He'd be okay as long as there were no serious head injuries. She should really get him checked. She pulled out her phone, and saw that she had three missed calls from Michael and five from Eve.

'What the hell?' Michael came barging into the store and took a look at Claire, who was crouching down next to Shane, and then at the groceries that was spread all over the floor.

'You need to help me getting Shane to the hospital. He's alive, but he might have hurt his head badly,' Claire said. She saw how much Michael didn't want to help her out with Shane, but he nodded anyway and came to help.

'What happened?' he asked.

'Can I tell you later?'

Michael nodded and started dragging Shane out of the store and over the parking lot to his car. They laid him in the back seat comfortably.

'Wanna' go back to get the groceries? I'll help you and we'll do it in a hurry,' Michael offered. She shook her head. Shane was way more important than diapers.

Claire sat down in the back seat so she could make sure Shane wasn't falling out of the seat or anything. Carrie was strapped up in Ethan's baby seat in the front. She was petting Shane's hair gently whilst looking down at him with worried eyes the whole trip. He moved a little every now and then, but so slightly that Claire wasn't sure whether it was the bumps on the road or him. He probably had a concussion. Luckily he was still alive.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

Michael parked the car close to the hospital entrance. 'Help me get him inside, please?' Michael still hadn't forgiven Shane for threatening Eve. But, no matter how much he pretended to hate him, Claire knew he would help his friend.

Shane was rushed into X-ray and checking right away. Probably because everyone knew that Claire would throw a fit if they wanted him to wait. And maybe because it kind of was an emergency. It showed off that he had a pretty bad concussion and that his shoulder was badly dislocated. He'd been in worse situations before. The doctors assured her he was going to be all fine and that there was no need to worry. They also kept telling her to go home, but that was not happening until she was sure he was okay. Well, probably not even then.

Like always, when she waited in the Hospital waiting-section she fell asleep. She napped for a few hours with Carrie on her chest. Time went by faster in dreamland, and when she woke up a nurse was there to inform her Shane would be expected to wake up during the next hour and that she was allowed in to see him. The sun was still shining outside, which told her that she couldn't have been for waiting for long. Maybe an hour or so.

'I'll go right now if that's okay with you?' she said in a tone that made the doc know that she was going inside no matter what he meant. She'd just made it a question to be polite.

'We'll take care of your little girl there, though. Having her with you into him may cause him stress,' Claire flinched.

'What? No, it's his daughter. He'll be more stressed if she isn't with me!' Claire exclaimed. The doctor just shook his head and made a gesture to make her hand Carrie over.

'Don't worry. We'll put her in a nice little bed and make sure you get her back after leaving Mr Collins' room.'

Claire sighed, kissed her daughter's forehead and handed her over to the doctor who took he out of her arms with expert care. She wasn't concerned that he would hand her over to some vamps and let them run off with her, 'cause she kind of knew him. He'd been with her during her birth and fixed up Shane on some of his way too many hospital visits.

Shane was awake when she got in so she ran to him and hugged him. He hugged her back with his not-injured arm. 'Where's Carrie?' Shane held his breath. Claire quickly shook her head and sat down next to him on the bed.

'She's fine. Dr Hove took her to a resting room or something. You look awful, by the way,' she said and bent down to kiss him. Just a sweet little kiss that he responded without any thought.

'Yeah, thanks. I was going to say 'thanks the same' but that wouldn't be fair since you always look great,' he winked at her. She felt how her cheeks burned a little and she knew very well that she was red as a freakin' tomato. 'Can you bend down?' he asked. She did and he kissed her. Hard and fierce with every feeling he felt. He pulled back and fell down groaning. She moved closer and kissed his forehead softly.

'You need rest,' she whispered.

'I can't. You could have died today. Both of you. I just blacked out.' His voice was filled with pain and regret. She sighed and lay carefully down, with her head lightly placed on his chest, in the not so roomy hospital bed.

'Don't blame yourself. We're okay. Neither Carrie nor I got hurt. Relax,' she snuggled closer, careful not to cause him more pain.

'Can you take Carrie to me?' Shane asked and lifted his hand to wipe his forehead.

'If I get allowed,' she said softly and took an ice bag off the bedside table and held it in place for him. He let out a low noise of displeasure when the cold hit him, but she just held it there.

'I need to see her. I'll rest after it, I promise.' Claire nodded at him and slid out of the hospital bed.

'I'll convince them,' she said and bent down to kiss his cheek.

'Don't get in trouble, tough girl,' he coughed. She smiled at him and gave him one more kiss before walking off to get Carrie.

As expected, Carrie was placed in a room filled with resting babies. Mostly new-borns but a few sick babies too. Claire felt her heart ache for the sick ones, but felt really lucky that her child was healthy. The room smelled like cream and vanilla. A sweet, soft smell that made her a little bit sick, but it still was good. Carrie was in a bed abandoned from the other babies. She woke up instantly when she scooped her up.

'Hi, sweetie. Had a nice naptime? Mommy is sorry for making you stay here, but we're going to go see daddy now,' she smiled down at her baby girl who blinked at her, showing off those beautiful, brown eyes.

'Hey Carrie,' Shane said in his baby voice and rocked her gently back and forth in his healthy arm. 'Missed me?' Carrie opened her mouth and gave him a huge gummy grin while lifting her arms up to touch his face. Instead of bending down like he usually did, he lifted her more up. Claire sank down in the chair next to his bed and placed her head on the edge of the hospital bed.

'Can I go home?' Shane asked when a young nurse came in to check on him. Claire noticed how she had unbuttoned her white top half ways and that she had pretty big breasts. She also couldn't help but noticing how Shane was looking at them. She placed an arm on Shane's good shoulder and tried dragging his attention away from the bimbo nurse. When he didn't look away, she smacked his shoulder harder. He turned to look at her and she sent him a warning by staring back into his eyes.

'Oh, don't you want to stay the night?' the nurse winked and Claire wanted to stand up and choke her right there. The woman was taller than her, skinnier, prettier and probably had neither stretch marks, nor dark circles under her eyes.

'I'd rather go home,' Shane said and grinned. Claire hated him for grinning at her like that. He probably just tried being polite, but she couldn't help being jealous. He was _her_ husband, after all.

'Oh, well. Then I guess we could get that fixed,' the nurse came up to him and bent over to the other side of his bed to turn off a machine. That made her boobs hang right in Shane's face.

'I'll do it,' Claire said after what felt like forever (but only had been two seconds). The nurse was obviously spending extra time.

'Don't touch! It's expensive equipment!' Claire wasn't sure if she talked about her boobs or the machine. Her boobs were obviously fake. They had to be.

However, when Shane was unplugged, and he managed to get out of the hospital bed, the nurse blew him a kiss. Claire felt like slapping her for even attempting to hit on him. Right in front of his wife and _daughter_!

'Come on. I bet you need some medicines and stuff,' she sighed and took his hand. He was really shaky but let her guide him.

'Make sure he takes one of these pills every third hour. Every hour that passes you're going to ask him what his name is, what time it is and where he is. Also, no TV watching, reading, physical or mental challenges,' Doctor Hove said when Claire got hold of him.

'Why ask those questions? I have a concussion, I'm not insane,' Shane complained and swayed slightly. Claire went up to his side to support him and make sure he didn't fall. Not that she would be strong enough to catch him, but it felt like a normal thing to do.

'It's to make sure that you don't loose your memory,' she explained to him and made him follow her to a chair where he could sit down.

'Our car is in the parking lot outside the store. What do we do?' she sighed and sat down in the chair next to him.

'What store?' he asked and turned his head only slightly so he could see her properly. Carrie started whimpering in her arms, and Claire remembered how long it had been since she had fed.

'Crap. Shane, give me your jacket. Hurry' Claire demanded. Shane hesitated but did as told and wiggled off his jacket in a clumsy way. He winced a little when he moved his bad shoulder.

'Why?' he asked after giving it to her.

'Carrie is hungry and I don't want to show my boobs off to the world?' she replied and made the jacket hang on her shoulders.

'Nah, I'm the only one who's allowed that pleasure. I'll make sure it doesn't slide,' Shane said and held it in place with one arm. Claire awkwardly lifted Carrie up to her chest and opened up her shirt buttons thinking of herself as the worst mom in the world. Who forgot to feed their child like that? Her daughter started eating and stopped crying.

After Carrie had fed, she called Eve to ask her to come pick them up. Michael was upset, Ethan was screaming and Eve sounded tired and happy to get out of the mess. 'I'll be there in a sec. Go wait in the parking lot,' Eve said and hung up.

'Can you stand up?' Claire asked and bent over to kiss his cheek.

'I'm having a concussion, I'm not paralyzed,' he replied and stood up. He even offered a hand but she didn't take it, afraid he would fall or something.

'Don't look at me with those sad puppy eyes,' she groaned and took his hand and squeezed it after standing up.

On their way home, Eve informed them that Michael had stopped by the store and picked up all they're groceries and placed them inside of their house. No one said much for the rest of the trip since Shane was having a huge headache. It all went fast and in less than a quarter, Shane was placed on the couch in the living room and Claire had hid the TV remote. Carrie had been put to bed and things were kind of peaceful.

'Wake up. Shane, honey, I need to ask you something,' Claire said with a low, soft voice and kneeled down in front of the couch. His eyelids flickered until he woke up.

'Where are you?' she asked and crossed her fingers that he would answer correctly. 'I'm in Morganville,' he said and groaned. 'Can I get some paracets? The whole box preferably,' he frowned and stared up at the ceiling.

'You'll get two,' Claire decided and placed a hand on his forehead and kissed his nose. He smiled weakly and tried kissing her. 'No, you need rest. I'll go find you those pain killers.' He looked disappointed but he didn't have energy to argue.

'Now let's go upstairs. Our bed is way more comfortable than this clumpy couch,' she said tried helping him up.

'You don't have to talk to me like I'm old, sick and dying. I'm fine, Claire. I've had plenty of worse things happen to me, so this is nothing. It's no problem for me, okay?' he sounded tired and stubborn. She bent down and kissed him lightly.

'I know, honey- it's just that the doctor told me…' she started.

'Screw the doctor. I feel fine!' he did an attempt of sitting up but she placed a hand on his chest to stop him.

'You just asked me to find you a box painkillers. You don't feel fine,' she said. He sighed and leant back.

'You're annoying me on purpose, aren't you?' he closed his eyes.

'No. Come on lets go upstairs.'

When he finally was in bed, Carrie started crying. 'I'll go,' she sighed and walked down the hall to Carrie's room. Shane had joined her painting it pink with small, white butterfly stickers. She remembered how funny and romantic he had been, kissing her all the time, pinning her up against the wall, wrecking her clothes with paint… Now it felt like he barely wanted to touch her. Also, the image of how he had stared at that nurse was burned into her mind forever. He never looked at her with that much lust anymore.

'Hush, hush. Mommy's here. Sh,' Claire soothed and scooped her up gently. Carrie kept on crying while Claire did everything that had worked to make her stop crying before. No matter what she did, Carrie kept crying. 'Please, please, please stop crying!' Claire begged and sat down and placed her daughter on the floor in front of her and started stroking her stomach. Small circulation-motions, kind of a massage. Somehow, it calmed her down and she stopped screaming her head off. She'd seen Eve do the same with Ethan before. Carrie smiled and laughed a little bit when Claire wiped her tears. Probably impressed that she had understood that her tummy ached. Being a mom really wasn't easy. 'Do you think you could be nice to mommy and daddy tonight? We are very, very tired. Now, if we get to sleep I can take you on a trolley trip to the park tomorrow,' Claire said patiently as if her daughter understood everything she said. Carrie cooed and lifted her hands up in the air. Claire let her wrap her small hands around her pointing finger. After playing for about fifteen minutes, she put Carrie back in her crib and sung her a song. When she was fast asleep, she ran back into her room to check on Shane.

'Shane, wake up,' she said and crawled up in bed next to him.

'I'm awake,' he replied and let her hug his side. For a weird reason, she wondered if he thought she was too clingy. 'Do I have to answer questions about what my name is and where I am? If so, I'm still Shane and I'm still in the capital of hell, Morganville,' he said and closed his eyes slightly.

'I'm just glad you're alive,' Claire whispered into the quiet, cold air and kissed his neck. If she'd expected him to do or say something, she was disappointed. A long silence followed and Claire grew more and more uncomfortable. 'Can we talk?' she asked quietly after a while.

'Sure. Whatcha' wanna talk about?'

'Us.'

'Gee, what have I done wrong this time?' Humour was in his tone, but it got Claire thinking. Had he really done anything wrong at all? She felt hurt and sad about something, but what had he done? What really bothered her was thinking about how Shane didn't find her attractive anymore. What bothered her more was the thought of telling him about her suspicions and him saying they were right.

'Nothing. It doesn't matter,' she snuggled closer and wished he'd taken off his t-shirt that smelled like sweaty socks. 'Can I help you take that off?' she asked and sniffed the shirt making a grimace.

'You can take a scissor and snip it. There's no way I'm getting it off with my arm in this sling,' he sighed. 'Oh and after we've done that, you're telling me what's bothering you.'

Claire found a scissor and tried cutting his shirt open. He kept wiggling and making grimaces for some stupid reason. 'Lay still, then!' she demanded.

'But you're scraping my chest,' he replied and took the scissor carefully out of her hand and finished the job himself. She groaned and moved herself to the other side of the bed.

'Claire, what's up with you? You've been all weird the last weeks,' he asked softly. For some reason she'd expected him to be mad or tired of her acting like a stupid diva. Instead he seemed… Understanding. At least open to hear whatever she wanted to say. 'Now it's your turn to talk to me. I tell you everything and I trust you with my life, so no secrets from either of us,' he closed the distance between them in the bed and she felt his warmth attack her and send shivers of pleasure down her spine. Usually when he did that to her, she felt loved. Now she felt embarrassed.

'Shane,' she turned so she could touch him.

'I'm right here, babe. Please tell me what's bothering you. It's killing me when you act like this,' he begged and leant his forehead down against hers.

'Don't judge,' she blurted. She hadn't originally meant to say it and both of them were caught by surprise.

'Judge you? What the hell, you know I'd never judge you for anything,' he said a little offended and hurt.

'I know… I'm sorry. Oh, and I'm also tired. Can we sleep?' she hoped it would make him forget all about everything, but he wasn't that gullible.

'No. I love you and you're telling me what's bothering you right now,' he demanded.

A part of her resisted and refused to tell him about her feelings and insecurity. The last thing she wanted was to be his jealous, way too clingy wife that never was pleased with him no matter what he did. He'd just said he loved her. He'd married her. What more could she expect from the poor guy? _Maybe_ _that he didn't look at other women like he wanted to wrestle them in bed_?

'Do you still love me like you loved me before?' she asked quietly and felt him soften and kiss her cheek and lips.

'Yes,' he didn't even hesitate. That was a good sign.

'Then why do you keep looking at other women with more intensity than you ever show me?' she felt like she wanted to cry and there was a lump sized Mount Everest in her throat that she kept choking on.

'What? I don't give a damn about anyone else but you. You have no reason to be jealous. We've been through this before. And, I think I know what's really making you upset,' he said and ran his fingers through her hair.

Shane

I started pulling off her shirt. She flinched. 'Keep still and trust me.' I saw it took much of her to nod, and she was still tense as a stick when I managed to pull it over her head. She lied there in front of me in just her bra and looked like she wanted to cry. 'I know about your stretch marks, okay? You don't have to hide your body from me,' I said and ran my fingertips over her stomach, touching every one of her marks. 'You brought us a beautiful baby girl and I couldn't be more in love with you. These stretch marks you worry so much about are nothing. I don't mind them. You're not less beautiful because of them,' I traced a few of the marks with my fingertips. 'Nothing will ever change the way I see you,' I finished and struggled a little to get closer, ignoring the throbbing of my dislocated shoulder. She was still tense and struggling to breathe. 'I love you. Come here,' I said and kissed her forehead and cheek.

'I love you too,' she whispered and pecked my lips carefully. My stomach dropped a little when I realized that was all the kissing I was going to get.

'Really? That's a kiss? Hell, you could have kissed Michael like that and I wouldn't have blinked!' I complained. Her lips came up to mine again and she almost kissed me. _Almost_. 'You little tease,' I mumbled and smiled at her. No matter how much she was going to tease me, I was hell-bent on having at least 15 minutes with my lips on hers.

To me, the whole thing was bizarre. Only the fact that she was thinking I'd grown tired of her was crazy. Also, how she looked so sure I was going to love her less just because of some stupid marks on her stomach. It all was something I couldn't get myself to understand. All I knew was that I couldn't allow her to feel that way and that I had to do something to make her see how much I cared about her and how little I cared about some stupid marks.

'Please tell me you're comfortable with me now,' I closed my eyes and felt her lips placing soft, wet kisses all over the right side of my face. However she stopped when I talked.

'I don't know,' she sighed.

'You've got no reason to be insecure or shy. You didn't act like this before' I said and held her closer. If I tried being her therapist I was failing badly.

'Don't worry about it,' she pleaded and snuggled in.

'I do. You know I do,' I sighed and placed my still-healthy arm around her. 'Now, can I please get my kiss?' She went on top of me and I felt her weight on my chest, which was almost way too pleasant by itself. At first her lips pressed against my neck sweetly, then she moved up to my lips inch by inch.

'I bet you would have blinked if I kissed Michael like this,' she warned and placed her lips on mines. I stroked my tongue over her bottom lip to make her let me in, and she did; Making all kinds of sparkles and firework run through my body. I groaned and dragged the sheets over us both so she wouldn't get cold. Not that it was possible to get cold in a so hot kiss, but still. There just was no stop when I made out with her. My lips where all outrun when she, unfortunately, broke the kiss to breathe. Breathing isn't the right word. She was more like panting like she'd just run a marathon. I wasn't better myself, though.

'God, you're amazing,' I said and looked up in her brown eyes.

'You've been an amazing teacher,' she smiled shyly and gave in on trying not to place too much weight on me. She was careful not to touch my shoulder or anything nearby it. I returned her smile and brushed some hair out of her face.

Just meeting her loving gaze made every shitty day of my life worth it. She made me want to be better, believe and have faith in the world. She'd brought me a little baby girl, which gave me another person to love. During my childhood I lost my whole family, she gave me a new one. Not the family I had before, but it was a new chance in life and if I'd been a Christian, I'd been convinced she was my guardian angel.

'Are you awake?' I whispered and tried turning a little in bed to make myself more comfortable without waking her up.

'Now I am,' she yawned.

'Your phone is buzzing. I think you're going to ask me who I am and some more stuff,' I said and handed her the phone. Worry flew over her eyes.

'Haven't you been sleeping?' I shook my head. 'Shane! You're supposed to rest,' she sounded upset and stressed.

'I know, relax. I just can't sleep, okay? No big deal. I've had plenty of awake nights before, and you know it.' Still, she didn't seem pleased. 'You drank way too much coffee last night. Let's go downstairs so I can force you to drink some warm milk,' she offered and sat up in the bed. The weight changed when she slipped out and the empty space where her body had been annoyed me. Even though it had been an offer, she'd left no room for arguing so I just got up and out. I didn't even bother to find a shirt. From last night, I still had my pants on. Claire put on a top and a pair of jeans, though.

'You're not going back to sleep, are you?' Claire guessed as she handed me a cup of milk. I shook my head.

'Nope. I'll go grab a beer' Hell, I really wanted a beer. For some reason, Claire didn't say I shouldn't or couldn't. She just shrugged. I felt like shrugging with her, but attempting it made me want to cry out in pain. The fridge wasn't filled with food like the one at the Glass House always had been. We never bought more than we needed. Well, I had a six-pack of beer stashed in the upper shelf (out of reach for Claire), but I really needed one sometimes.

When I sat down, Claire took a look at the beer, then at me.

'Can I taste?'

'Hell no'

'Why?'

'Because you're not old enough,' I sighed.

'You were drinking way before you got old enough,' she reminded me.

'Yeah, but you're not doing it. Wait three years and we may then discuss it again. I'm old enough now, by the way,' I winked at her. She stuck her tongue out.

'You're annoying.' She concluded and took the milk cup and sipped that instead.

'Hey! That was my milk!'

She just stuck her tongue out again and passed me the milk cup. 'Why can't you just let me have some?' Her feet started touching mines and I guessed it was what people called 'foot flirting' or something like that. Not that I minded any kind of flirting with her. I thought about her words for a little while.

'Because I love you,' there was more to it than that. 'And you're still sweet and innocent,' something was missing: 'Except from in bed.' There it was. She blushed a little. God, I loved it when I made her blush like that. My beer was still at the table, opened but not touched. I wasn't going to get drunk or anything like it. I could hold my liquor better than one beer anyway. 'Also I think that your dad would hunt me down if he got to know I'd been giving you alcohol.' Claire flinched and for a few seconds she looked almost panicked. 'What?'

'I haven't called my parents for a whole week! I promised to…'

'Relax, they probably don't mind. Oh, and they probably know how stressing it is to have a baby in the house. It's not exactly calling the 'rents that tempts the most when you finally get half an hour of rest,' I said and gave her a comforting smile. Her parents had apologized and they were talking with Claire again, which was great.

'No, Shane. They might be worried. I should give them a call,' she said and tapped her fingers on the table.

'Now? What are you going to answer if they ask why you're calling them in the middle of the night? Like, I'm sitting up with Shane who has just been in a badass fight with some vamps. His shoulder is dislocated and he has brain damages and oh, don't worry! He's taking painkillers and drinking beer as well. Hell, I bet your dad is going to love me,' I sipped my beer and leaned back in the chair. She clearly wasn't happy about it, but I knew she saw my point.

'We need to get Carrie under some kind of protection.' It was a clear change of the topic and it kinda knocked me out. The last thing I wanted was to sell Carrie away to some vampire.

'No. We went through this just a few weeks ago! Do you have any idea what could happen? What happened to Eve? We'll protect her. I'll protect her!' Claire tried to make me understand by meeting my gaze, but no. No, no, no. Hell no.

'We need to do it before someone kills her,' she said almost calmly. Deep inside of me I heard my dad's voice say _she'd rather be dead than given to a vamp_. I knew it was wrong, though. I loved my little girl and I wanted the best for her. Giving her to some random vamp was not for the best. 'I'm talking about claiming her Amelie's protection. Not the street vampires. Maybe Myrnin or Oliver, but preferably Amelie,' Claire seemed to have read my mind. If we had made one of those ugly ass vampires give her their protection, they'd started raping her, drinking her blood and all that creepy stuff. Just no. Not even an option.

'Not Oliver. Especially not Myrnin. I don't doubt for a second that if Myrnin owned you, he would have killed you off and placed your brain in a fucking machine. Oh, by the way, do you really think Amelie will give our daughter protection for no reason? I'm not signing no contract with any vamp and you know it!' My whole body was shaking. I was scared. My daughter was not going to be given away to anyone. How could Claire even want that? It made no sense.

'Please try to understand,' she pleaded. I didn't.

'Carrie won't go under any protection. She has the normal one until she turns eighteen, and I have my protection from the hospital bracelets I get all the time.'

'I'm under Amelie's protection. You still love me. Why can't you agree on increasing Carrie's chances for survival? In this town it's not just being good parents and spending time with our child. We need to be smart.'

'What is it you're not telling me? 'Cause I get the feeling there's something you ain't telling me.'

'It's no big deal! You don't have to know,' she bit her under lip nervously.

'Yeah, I kinda do have to know! We're in a relationship, Claire, if you haven't noticed. If there's some trouble walking around, I should be the first one you come to!' She looked like she wanted to cry and I felt a little bad for having a so sharp tone. 'Is it about Carrie?' I added a little more softly. She nodded and bent her head down and placed it in her hands. 'Then I really need to know. All I want to do is to protect her. I'm not going to turn into a copy of my dad, because I love her. I really, really do. I care and whatever's going on I have the right to know,' I said and tried figuring whether she was crying or just deeply upset.

'You're right,' she took a deep breath and looked up at me with dark, worried eyes. 'It's the vampires. They're having some kind of bet on who's going to be able to take Carrie first and live through it,' she didn't cry. Her voice was concentrated and very dangerous. Not threatening against me, but against anyone who would do as much as attempt on touching Carrie. Personally, I felt knocked out and scared as hell. My baby girl was in danger and I wasn't really in a condition to defend her if it came to a fight. That's why Claire wanted to get her protection.

'We're going in the morning. To the Founder square. Go upstairs and bring Carrie down, no one's going to hurt her tonight,' I said without thinking. Claire skipped upstairs right away.

Luckily she came down with Carrie sleeping in her arms. For a few seconds I'd been scared she was already gone. Snapped by a vampire and dead. 'There's no way of getting back to sleep now,' I whispered to myself. Claire sighed and walked out into the living room while I stumbled after her. She sat down in the couch and I joined her.

'You're shaking,' she said and snuggled up to me.

'I'm scared.' I hadn't meant to say it. I guess I just blurted it out. For a moment I was sure Claire was going to laugh or something, but she didn't. All she did was kissing my, still okay, shoulder and whispered: 'me too.'

In the dawn Carrie woke up and started crying until she realized we were already there. Claire had also fallen asleep, cuddled up to me, but woke up by Carrie's crying. 'Hi, sweetie,' Claire yawned a little but had the baby voice clear. 'Are you hungry?' Carrie stopped sobbing when Claire opened up her sweater to give her milk.

'If I start crying, can I also lick your boobs?' I asked and kissed the side of her head.

'Yuck, perv!' she smacked me playfully. I acted like it hurt and trailed a few kisses down her cheek and neck while she giggled.

'Nothing I haven't seen before,' I winked and she smacked me again.

'Not in front of our daughter,' she tried to hide a smile, but didn't manage it.

'Yeah, you're right. Now, let me help you with the bra,' I said and licked my lips.

'It's like talking to a brick wall,' she rolled her eyes.

'A damn sexy brick wall, though,' I traced her white, blonde bra with my fingers wishing I had another arm to use. Carrie nearly attacked her nipples to get the milk. I pecked Claire's lips a few times and lost myself in her eyes afterwards. How had I been so lucky? Nothing was awkward by just sitting with her in silence. My lips pressed themselves against hers again and she responded without hesitating. 'I love you,' I said and kissed her again a little longer and deeper.

'I love you too,' her voice was lowered and sweet to my ears.

As soon as the sun went up, we decided that we had to take the risk of walking to the store to get our car. Neither of us loved the idea, but it didn't tempt to call Michael or Eve again early in the morning. Also, Michael kinda didn't want to talk to me. I understood why, so I had just backed off. If Michael had been acting like an asshole against Claire, I would have lost all my respect for him too. I had hurt Eve. Therefore, I didn't blame Michael for trying to kill me. Still, it did hurt badly. Mike was my best friend.

'Can you help me with this?' I asked and held up a zipper hoodie. Getting a t-shirt on wasn't an option.

'Yeah, sure,' she replied and put Carrie in her trolley. With a lot of effort and a little pain, I finally had the hoodie on.

'Thanks.'

She went up on her toes to kiss my cheek. Not only a peck, but a real kiss on the cheek. As always, she made me all fluttery inside and I loved it.

'No problem,' she said intimately close to my ear. All I wanted was to drop everything and kiss her. Forget about the world and make love to her. Instead we were heading for the Founders Square to see Amelie. Life sucked sometimes, literally.

Claire

'We're here to see Amelie,' Claire said. Usually she would have shown off her golden bracelet, but everyone knew whom she was and whom her protector was. A Morganville Celebrity, as Shane had called her. The secretary nodded and took a phone, said something in a foreign language, then nodded at them and pointed to the elevator.

Shane was ready to fight and he was hovering next to her and Carrie's trolley. Vampires that passed looked at them. Someone flashed fangs, but they didn't dare doing anything more in public. Claire pushed the nervous feeling away and pushed the elevator button. A vampire came up next to them. It was a man in a nice suit, but Claire could tell he wasn't human by looking at his pale hands and his walking. He was going to try taking the elevator with them and Carrie.

'Shane, let's take the stairs,' she said casually and turned her back against the open elevator door. The vamp made no movement or hint that he was going into it unless they were. 'With the trolley? Seriously?' Shane groaned. Claire took her daughter out of the trolley and shook her head.

'No. It'll be fine down here. Come on,' she tugged onto his arm and he followed her.

At the third floor, Amelie had her office. Before getting allowed in, they had to speak with her top-secretary. When they finally were nodded in, Shane sighed. He took Carrie's blanket off his lap and helped Claire wrap it around her so she wouldn't get cold. She held her daughter tight to her chest and they walked into Amelie's office together.

'Hello. What brings you two- three here today?' Amelie looked up from her papers and greeted them. Claire took a deep breath. 'I'm not sure if this is possible, but… We would like for Carrie to have your protection.' Silence filled the air and Amelie looked at them.

'Why would I give your daughter any kind of protection? What has she done to deserve it?' Amelie asked with her best icy voice.

'Nothing,' Claire admitted quietly and looked down at her knees. Was she going to surrender so easily? Not getting Carrie protection would get her killed. Both her and Shane understood that.

'Amelie, with all respect, Claire has done heck of a lot in this town. She has saved the vampire species plenty of times and sacrificed much. Don't you think you owe her something?' Shane's words were wrong chosen. You didn't tell the Founder that she owed anyone anything.

As expected, Amelie mocked Shane's little speech and told them off by a hand gesture.

'Please, Amelie. Are you even aware of the bet that the vampires are having?' That got her attention. Claire had thought about saying she'd do anything for Carrie's protection, but she knew way too well how Amelie would remember that and use it. 'What bet?' she asked and looked up. Shane was about to answer, probably rudely so Claire looked back at him and shook her head.

'They have a competition. It's about who can kill Carrie first and live through it.' Carrie wiggled a little in her arms and Claire smiled sadly down at her.

'How can you possibly know that if even I have never heard of it?' Amelie asked and Claire heard doubt in her voice.

'Some vampires attacked us at the grocery store, knocked me out, then told Claire.' Shane sounded rude as he always did when he talked to vampires. The spitting tone, as Claire liked to call it.

'May I ask whom the vampires were?' Amelie didn't sound worried. More annoyed that she maybe would have to deal with the vampires.

'Well, it was Jeremy and a woman. I've never seen the woman before, but she had curly, shoulder length and kinda puffy orange hair. She was tall with green, clear eyes. You've already heard about Jeremy through Hannah's report,' her voice was strangely calm.

'You have to know that my protection is not something you can just come and claim. Especially not for a child that has done nothing for the town.'

'Maybe she will do something for the town,' Shane blurted. 'If she's anything like Claire, she can do whatever Claire's doing now.' Claire thought about snorting. But, Amelie seemed to think about it, so she didn't.

'She can assist Myrnin,' Amelie said. Shane froze and looked down at their little baby who was so peaceful and innocent. Even Claire doubted a little bit.

'We really need her to be safe. Please, Amelie. Vampires are stalking us, ready to grab her if Shane or I look away for a second,' Claire did her best to sound calm and not-panicked, but she felt her voice trembling and less panicked wasn't possible to be.

'She will assist Myrnin. From the day you go back to work, Carrie is going to be with you. She will learn from both you and Myrnin every day. I will give her a bracelet just like yours today if you promise that both of you will sign the contract as it comes to you in the mail.'

The price seemed fair to Claire, so she looked at Shane and nodded. He hesitated, but nodded as well. 'Deal,' they said. And their daughter was sold to Amelie.


End file.
